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Few events in the 2018 election campaign can compare to a broadcast held earlier this week. All day Thursday, radio and television sets blared across the city.  Nothing could be more important.   The top six presidential candidates approached Bintumani Conference Center at Aberdeen, Freetown in grand style. Each of them entered the hall with beaming faces, igniting the political ambiance. Hassan Arouni, a Sierra Leonean journalist working for the British Broadcasting Cooperation, was the moderator. There were other radio and television presenters plus local and international journalists, covering the event around the globe. Streaming services for small screens were made available by Africa Young Voices, one of the most popular television stations. No sooner had the introductions been made, than the contenders kicked off their political wrestling. They all stepped up to the pedestal, as they articulated their policies, visions, dreams, and plans they...

For generations,  rice husk has been left to rot or burn in Sierra Leone. A great source of biomass wasted, while young men cut their way into forests. Now, the Fomel Industry And National Industrialization Center, or Finic, has found a new way of getting charcoal without the cutting down of trees.  Over a two-year period, the management and staff of Finic tested a machine that converts rice husks into biochar. "One of the attributes of the equipment is that the heat it produces in the carbonization process can also be used as a heat source," said Mr. Foday Melvin Kamara, the company founder and managing director of Finic.  "It can be used to carbonize agricultural waste such as palm kernel shells from which gases can be derived to generate electricity," he said. FINIC , which is short for Fomel (Foday + Melvin) Industry and National Industrialization Center, is a leading agribusiness in Sierra Leone. The company specializes in grating machines, coffee...

23-year-old Millicent loves fashion. She first started designing her own clothes. Then a friend inspired her to show the world her remarkable talent. So Millicent began designing clothes for family and friends. Boosted by their kind words, she opened a small business. For three years now her arts and crafts have been a growing attraction. She designs beach sandals and flip flops, purses, necklaces, earrings, and clothes for clients in Freetown. "It's a gift," Millicent said. "I couldn't believe it at first but I finally excelled. I admire other people's arts and that has inspired me more often than I expected,” she said. Millicent has become so popular she is now signing contracts with boutique owners. She also does talk shows and television programs, inspiring other young people. "We all have special gifts but we will never find them if we fail to try our hand at every little thing that surrounds us." For Young Life in Freetown, ...

No one knows how chickens got to Sierra Leone. But a lot of people in Freetown today think breeds from European countries are superior to local fowls. Unlike Ndama cows, which were domesticated in Fuuta-Jaloo more than 8,000 years ago, and are still loved for their meat all over West Africa, chicken born and bred in Sierra Leone don't do well at all in social comparisons. But backyard farmers want local breeds and they are spreading knowledge of raising them to others for inspiration. "People say that the eggs of local fowl do not have the same nutrients as the English fowls and that the local fowls have thick skins," Cecilia Conteh said. Cecilia thinks it's all down to the feed. She is raising two backyard hens hatched from fowls that she got as a gift from her grandmother who lives in a faraway village. Isata Kanu's free-range hens are thriving with added grains of rice in the morning and evening. Tigidankay Koi says her chickens keep her fa...

You can never do too much drawing. Abbas Jalloh hasn't stopped since he drew his first diagram in primary school. By high school, he had broken free from lines and drew a picture of Justin Bieber so well that he became one of the most popular people at school. "To be honest, I cannot say my work is priceless,” said the now 22-year-old mass communications student at Fourah Bay College. "I love sketching and drawing because it looks realistic after the work is completed," he said. He doesn't do exhibitions because he doesn't have a space to showcase his work. However, there are people who sponsor him. Some pay fairly well too for their sketches.  "Artistically, my drawing mentors are many,” he said. “ Aliya, a Sierra Leonean who did lots of the paintings at one of the biggest nightclubs at Calabatown; Theophilus Boateng a.k.a. TheoPencil, the unmatchable Ghanaian artist and millionaire as well, who specializes in pencil; and  Olusegun Olumede, a N...

As the elections draw closer,  young people in Calaba Town are getting ready to vote on March 7, 2018. This Saturday,  November 25,  many collected their voter registration cards.  I got to meet and talk with a few of them. They want to vote for people they believe in, people they know can help bring about a better Sierra Leone. One vote is all they have to make that change. Saya Turay, a 24-year-old hairdresser,  said that she's happy to have acquired the card because she'll be able to vote in her candidate. Her wish is to make the right choice while placing her vote, as she favors someone that she thinks would add more meaning to the lives of young people. "If we the young people are given a chance, then Sierra Leone will be a better place," she said. Twenty-year-old Idrissa Koroma, a shop assistant, will be voting for the first time in the 2018 general elections. He hopes that his vote is going to help bring in the right person. "The people need someo...

Over the past month, numerous reports of sexual assaults have rocked the world. People in Freetown are not immune. Here are a few real-life stories from young men and women in Freetown. "I was 12 when I moved into my uncle's house and I still remember how his wife assaulted me," said twenty-two-year-old Samson Jalloh . “After every shower, when my uncle was out, she'd ask me to apply gel on her back. That's how it continued until one day she started sneaking into my room, demanding I take off my pants and climb on top of her. I knew it was wrong, and that she was my uncle's wife. One day, I decided to tell my uncle because I couldn't take it anymore. My uncle didn't believe me at first but a week later he caught his wife seducing me in the courtyard when he came home one afternoon. He was very pissed and he divorced her.” Seray Khan , a 24-year old woman, said that in high school one of her teachers repeatedly harassed her. "When it was t...